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This week was tremendous for San Jose fans.

If you don't recall, The SaberCats barely edged out the Denver Gold is last weeks game, winning a close game that was exciting from start to finish. This left many fans wondering if they have what it takes to be strong contender for this years playoffs.

But after this week, many of those worries have been washed away. The SaberCats played their first home game of the season against the Washington Federals. Many sources expected them to lose, but that was not at all what happened.

In the beginning of the first quarter, the San Jose SaberCat offense marched right down the field straight into the endzone for a score of seven points. And that was not the last time they saw it either. Multiple players on both sides of the ball had great games. Both the offense and the defense worked together this time. And it payed off.
The SaberCats ended up winning 59 - 17 against Washington.

QB Antonio Wilson played his best game yet, completing 20 of his 29 pass attempts for 281 yards, 4 touchdowns, and no interceptions. But the biggest player of the game?

That would be RB Christopher Gray, who had a stellar game. He had 19 rushes for 193 yards, average 10 yards per rush attempt. He had 3 rushing touchdowns, and a kick return that he ran 98 yards for another touchdown as well. Gray has also been noted as one of the honorable mentions for this weeks player of the week award.
Sources have told us that Head Coach James Huang had given the running back the "game ball" after the team had went into the locker room following the game.

Asked about how his team played, Huang stated "This was just one game. We still have a lot of improving to do. I am proud of how the team played today, I know that they worked very hard. But there still is much to do, and today does not mean anything for us yet."

One of those things they need to improve? How about their kicking.
Kicker Tommie Prather had yet another bad game. Prather missed 2 of his 3 field goal attempts, despite making all of his PATs. Last week, Prather had also missed a field goal as well. He is currently 4/7 in total, averaging 57% completion rating. It is especially disappointing when you remember that the SaberCats took Prather earlier on in the allocation draft, hoping for a solid long term solution for kicking. He has not yet lived up to any of the potential that the SaberCats were hoping for, and if he doesn't improve soon, this could end up being a serious problem for their playoff hopes.

This leads many to the question: Will San Jose continue to strive? Or will their good luck run out?

Maybe we will find out next week, as the SaberCats travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Maulers, who are also 2-0 and on the rise.

Not to be a buttinsky but are your long snapper and/or kick holder good enough? I once had a very accurate kicker with a dedicated long snapper, as in all he did was LS. Needing the roster space one year I cut him and the same accurate kicker started missing badly in the preseason so I resigned the same LS. Glad he wasn't mad at me for cutting him to begin with, though he has since been replaced again on that team by a better backup OL.

Well my starting LS is good, though he was injured and out the last two games so that might be it, but the kicker has also been have these issues during preseason. As for my kick holder, I'm currently using my backup QB. He's not great, but he's the best I'm probably going to get at this point the year. It could possibly him.
Truthfully, I've never had this happen before, so I really have no idea.

I'll use backup QB's to hold but I prefer a good punter with good holding skills. Punters rarely get injured which is why for LS I like to use backup OL if possible. TBH I use whomever is best at holding and snapping, even if it's my starting QB or OL/TE/FB. Holders and snappers are often taken for granted until a problem arises, which described me in the past. Once I saw a problem in that area with 1 of my teams I made it a priority to shore it up on them all.

Some of the problem may just be your kicker growing into his ratings or maybe it's just the youth of the league. In Custom 79 I noticed a lot of horrible kicking by supposedly accurate kickers especially the first preseason. I didn't track other kickers but my own also struggled early and got better as the season wore on. I am glad I stuck with the kid as in year 3 he has missed just 1 kick in 15 games.

Yeah, I think he'll just get better in time, so I'm just kinda planning on waiting for him develop.
Though it doesn't really help that my kicking coach sucks. But then again, at this point, which team doesn't have a terrible kicking coach.

There is reason to be very hopeful in San Jose, as the Sabercats are currently still undefeated as the first half of the season comes to an end. They are currently one of two teams at 8-0, with the other being the Florida Blazers.

But alas, with good news, comes bad news.

This week, as the SaberCats racked up another win against their division rival, it seems fan favorite running back Christopher Gray suffered a serious injury to the leg. He is currently doubtful to play in any upcoming games, and is currently projected to take 8 weeks to heal fully. And even though projected injury times are always a little longer than it actually takes, it still will probably be at least 2 or 3 weeks before he even touches the field.
(The San Jose Coaches and Staff were unfortunately unable to speak with us this week)

But Gray is not the only player struck with injury, however, as many any other players for the SaberCats and around the league have been getting a lot of injuries.

That means for now, the next batter is up to bat. Lynwood Skelton is the next running back in the depth chart, and has been fairly inconsistent throughout the season. He goes from usually getting the ball 4 to 5 times per game to now at least 20.
The big question now: Is he ready to play as a starter?

Skelton is still young and pretty unexperienced, but coaches say he has a lot of potential, and
he has made a few big plays for the SaberCats so far this season.

Ready or not, Here he comes.

We'll just have to wait and see when the SaberCats travel to Baltimore next week to take on the Stars.

At least their kicking isn't that bad anymore.

And now, on to local sports.

After this weeks game, the San Jose SaberCats are now 10-2, subsequent to losing a tight game against division rival South California Sun. This was their second loss of the season.

Their starting running back, Christopher Gray still is inactive with a leg injury for SaberCats. He is technically ruled as probable to play the next games, but Coach Huang still keeps him as inactive, wanting him to be "completely healthy" before he returns to the field again.

Gray's lack of presence has certainly been felt, as the 'Cats have been 2-2 since Gray's injury.

That includes their first loss of the season, which was 3 weeks ago, against the Baltimore Stars. It was probably the ugliest game that San Jose had ever played. The offense fell apart and the defense might had well been non-existent. It was a devastating loss for both the players and fans alike.

There is still is a good chance that San Jose could still make the playoffs, but they would definitely need to step up their game.

"It's tough situation to be in" stated Huang in a recent press report by MFN-Network.

It is a touch situation to be in, indeed. Injuries continue to plague the SaberCats, and they just can't seem to find their rhythm that they had lost in week 9.

What will happen next is a bit of a wild card.
It seems that only time will tell which way they will go.

Next week, the Oakland Invaders will "invade" the SaberCats at home in San Jose.

And the SaberCats are in the playoffs, but do they really deserve it at this point?

The end of the regular season is here, but San Jose fans don't have to worry about missing their team too much, as the SaberCats are officially in the playoffs.

The SaberCats finished the season 12-4, but lost 3 of their last 5 games.

This comes right after the dreadful loss they faced in Portland against the Storm. It was an ugly game for them. The offense played bad. The defense played bad. The special teams actually did somewhat okay. But they still lost 27-56. And lost their chance at a first round bye week.

They definitely seemed to have lost their spark, as they have been 4-4 since the second half of the season began.

In the first half, of the season, they were 8-0.

What happened? They surely don't look the same team they were then.

Well, for one thing, injuries definitely slowed them down. RB Christopher Gray has been injured since Week 8, and when he did come back to play the Showboats in Week 15, he only was injured again with yet another leg injury. WR Brain Wesley has also been out for a few weeks with a leg injury as well. SS Paul Reed has been questionable with (guess what) a leg injury for the past couple weeks up until this week. And it only seems like more injuries are piling up as the weeks go on.

They are definitely not in their best shape, which is not good when the playoff games start next week.

And despite them making the playoffs, it doesn't seem like they are going to get very far at this point.

Next week, the play a wild card game against the Denver Gold.
If you can't remember San Jose played against Denver in the season opener and won, but the Gold seem like they're out for revenge.

Morale is low. Stakes are high. And the end is near, whether it's good or bad.